Thorns and Thistles: Pathways to Discipleship - Cycle C

By Mark A. Escobar

With the onslaught of reflections and other biblical materials available online, I have thought it best to welcome the challenge of putting into writing my homilies for each Sunday celebration. Hence, as a form of sharing, these written homilies are meant to help us appreciate our sense of discipleship. Like the seemingly endless footsteps of Christ in our lives, the gift of the Spirit leads us to be united in one faith that captures the sense of transformation as implied in gospel reflections. It is like a personal diary that attempts to lift the weight of Christs message within the richness of human experiences.

As discipleship demands new perspectives and priorities, these homilies articulate relationships in a variety of settings, images, and lifestyles of being in the world with others. Though they help us understand the presence of God in our lives, living with our own mystery and spirituality becomes like a dependable compass that is always there to guide us.

It is our road map as we walk by faith and not by sight alone. Jesus life, teaching, and ministry in a particular place, time, and culture have great significance to our journey, as far as our mission is concerned. He identifies himself with the people across cultures and he enters into solidarity with those in need.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Inspiring Voices
• Release date: May 29, 2013
• ISBN: 9781462405954

Mark A. Escobar

Fr Mark A. Escobar, C.S., a Filipino-born priest, is a member of the Missionaries of Saint Charles, known as Scalabrinians. He was ordained a priest in 1995 and is currently working at Saint Tarcisius Church in Framingham, MA. He authored other publications: Inner Journey – A Window into Spirituality (RoseDog Books, 2006), On Bits and Pieces – along with Crooked Lines in three volumes (Cycles A, B, and C), and Thorns and Thistles in three volumes (Cycles A, B, and C), On Different Wavelengths - A Brushstroke of Life.

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Copyright © 2013 Mark A. Escobar.

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ISBN: 978-1-4624-0596-1 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4624-0595-4 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2013907140

Inspiring Voices rev. date: 5/22/2013

CONTENTS

Foreword by Prof Hosffman Ospino, PhD

Acknowledgments

Introduction

New Year’s Day

Solemnity of the Blessed Virgin Mary—Mother of God

Feast of the Epiphany

The Visit of the Magi marks the Manifestation of Christ to the Gentiles

Baptism of the Lord

The beginning of Jesus’ public ministry

ORDINARY TIME

Second Sunday in Ordinary Time

The Wedding at Cana

Third Sunday in Ordinary Time

Jesus’ Saving Mission

Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time

The Cost of Being Called to Serve—a journey

Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Men and Women of Discipleship—A Biblical Perspective

Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time

The Lucan Beatitudes

LENT

Ash Wednesday

Our Journey of Conversion

First Sunday of Lent

The Temptations of Jesus

Second Sunday of Lent

Jesus’ Transfiguration

Third Sunday of Lent

The Parable of the Fig Tree

Fourth Sunday of Lent

The Parable of the Prodigal Son

Fifth Sunday of Lent

Jesus and a Woman Taken in Adultery

HOLY WEEK

Palm Sunday of the Lord’s Passion

The Suffering Servant of Israel—Christ

Holy Thursday

Evening of the Lord’s Supper

The Symbolic Act of Foot Washing

Good Friday

Celebration of the Lord’s Passion

Christ in His Redeeming Mystery of the Cross

EASTER SEASON

Easter Vigil

He is not here, but he has been raised.

Easter Sunday

The Resurrection of the Lord

Second Sunday of Easter

Divine Mercy Sunday

Third Sunday of Easter

Dynamic Relationship with God

Fourth Sunday of Easter

Jesus, the Good Shepherd

Fifth Sunday of Easter

Love One Another

Sixth Sunday of Easter

Obedience to God’s Commands

Ascension of the Lord

A New Kind of Presence—Our Commissioning to Preach the Good News

Seventh Sunday of Easter

The Testament of Jesus (Jesus’ High Priestly Prayer)

Pentecost Sunday

The Pentecost Moment in the Life of the Church

Trinity Sunday

The Threefold Nature of God—A Deeper Understanding of our Own Nature

The Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ

Eucharist—A Whole Series of Signs

Eleventh Sunday in Ordinary Time

A Common Scope on Healing and Forgiveness—A Horizontal Movement

Twelfth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Confession of Peter

Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Jesus’ Travel Account While Heading For Jerusalem

Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Richness in Meaning: Mission Addressed to the Seventy-Two

Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Who is my Neighbor?

Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Listening to Jesus—Its Importance

Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Jesus Teaches Us How to Pray

Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Faith and Trust in God

Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

To be Faithful and Committed to God

Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Twenty-First Sunday in Ordinary Time

Our Faith Commitment to Loving Others

Twenty-Second Sunday in Ordinary Time

Messianic Images of the Banquet in God’s Kingdom

Twenty-Third Sunday in Ordinary Time

Commitment to the Implications of Discipleship

Twenty-Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time

The Parable of the Prodigal Son

Twenty-Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time

The Parable of the Dishonest Steward

Twenty Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time

The Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus

Twenty-Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time

The Parable of the Unprofitable Servants (Attitude of a Servant)

Twenty Eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time

The Cleansing of Ten Lepers

Twenty-Ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time

The Parable of the Persistent Widow

Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time

The Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector

Thirty-First Sunday in Ordinary Time

Zacchaeus the Tax Collector

Thirty-Second Sunday in Ordinary Time

The Problem of the Resurrection

The problem of the Resurrection

Thirty-Third Sunday in Ordinary Time

Jesus’ Discourse on the Future of Jerusalem and the Temple

Solemnity of Christ the King

The Crucifixion

Thanksgiving Day

Gratitude to God Through Centuries

Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of The BVMBlessed Virgin Mary

(1)

(2)

THE SOLEMNITY OF THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY

ADVENT SEASON

First Sunday of Advent

The Unknown Day and Hour—The Coming of the Lord at the End of Time

Second Sunday of Advent

The Preaching of John the Baptist

Third Sunday of Advent

The Message from John the Baptist—Jesus as the Messiah

Fourth Sunday of Advent

The Angelic Annunciation Made to Joseph

CHRISTMAS SEASON

Solemnity of the Nativity of the Lord (Vigil Mass)at the Vigil Mass

The Long Ancestry of Jesus—A Connecting Link to our Human Family

Christmas Mass at Midnight

A Savior has been Born in the City of David

Christmas Day—Mass During the Day

Solemnity of the Lord’s Birth

Feast of the Holy Family

The Flight into Egypt

Bibliography of Cited Works

About the Author

THORNS

and

THISTLES

¹

To my Scalabrinian confreres

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FOREWORD

W hat do you remember about last Sunday’s homily? I remember my professor of homiletics several years ago in South America sharing with his students that this was a question he regularly asked people in his parish during the week. The answer that most stayed with him, he jokingly said, was that of an older lady who never missed Sunday Mass: not much, Father, but you spoke wonderfully. This is perhaps what every preacher fears most after delivering a homily. Yet, the consolation is that something stays in the minds and hearts of those who listen. After smiling at the woman and asking more specifically whether she liked any of the readings or the stories he told, she replied: ah yes, I liked what you said about… , and on she went to recall a few interesting details. Not all listeners remember the same message or remember in the same way. This calls for homilies well prepared and well delivered; homilies that bring us into conversation with the complexity of the biblical world in which the readings that inspire them are rooted and our own contemporary experience. Preachers and educators are always up to be surprised by what stays with the people we address.

Preaching is an art and as such it must be mastered through constant discipline, preparation, and intentionality. We must never underestimate the value of this important dimension of the ministry of the Word in the life of the Church. The homily is for many baptized the primary means to enter into the depths of the Scriptures and the Church’s Tradition. It is in listening to the preacher that many discover that God has something important for us in the everyday of our lives. Homilies have the potential to transform not only how we live our lives, but also how we understand God becoming present in our midst. St. Paul clearly reminds us that there is an intimate connection between faith and good preaching: But how can they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how can they believe in him of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone to preach? (Rom 10:15). Christian preaching is then an art that carries the weight of a very unique responsibility: to bring women and men to faith, namely to an encounter with the person of Jesus Christ in whom we partake of God’s salvific love.

The preacher plays an amazingly important role in the liturgical celebration and in the life of the Church. One metaphor that I believe captures well what the preacher does is that of a mediator. Preaching mediates the many worlds and meanings that converge at the moment of the liturgical celebration in which a homily is delivered. When the Scriptures are proclaimed, we hear the echo of voices and experiences that emerged thousands of years ago. Those voices and experiences are now to make sense in the lives of people who also have their own experiences, as shaped by the historical reality of the present, and live in the particularity of their cultural-historical location. The preacher stands before the congregation as the person who mediates these realities. It falls upon the shoulders of the preacher to know as much as possible about the world of the Scriptures and about the world of those who are listening. Mediation in the context of preaching is about interpreting, making connections, identifying differences, and insightfully showing how faith and life are mutually related. But perhaps the most important task of the preacher as mediator is that of empowering listeners to do their own interpreting and make those connections that only they can in their own lives.

Christianity enjoys a centuries-old tradition of assembling collections of homilies and sermons for this particular purpose, beginning with Jesus’s own discourses in the gospels. These collections are indeed great resources to learn from the theological wisdom of the preacher and how this person has wrestled with the questions of a particular time in conversation with God’s Word and Revelation. I have always admired, for instance, the depth and structure of Thomas Aquinas’ Summa Theologica as well as his various other philosophical works, but am uniquely fascinated by his sermons. There one encounters a somewhat more personal side of the Angelic Doctor, a theologian in love with the Scriptures and the person they reveal. Augustine’s Sermons are alluring; John Henry Newman’s ever insightful. No history of Christian missions or religious education or even theology would be complete without a serious study of available sermons and homilies delivered at various moments in history.

Thorns and Thistles is Fr. Mark Escobar’s gift to preachers, Christian educators, parishioners, and readers interested in the wisdom shared through his homilies during 2010 as part of Year C of the Sunday cycle of readings. It takes time and discipline to write a good homily, conviction to deliver it in a persuasive manner, and courage to publish them. Here we find a sample of all the above. In this well-crafted collection of homilies, Fr. Escobar walks us through an entire liturgical year of Sunday preaching deeply rooted in the weekly readings from the Scriptures. I had the pleasure to carefully study each one of these homilies. First started reading them as an intellectual exercise but soon found myself mediating upon the readings and the reflections as in a personal retreat guided by the hand of a master preacher.

The present collection of homilies is an invitation into a journey. First, it is a journey into the Scriptures, the heart of every homily. Fr. Escobar carefully explains each biblical passage providing key details to better understand the context of the texts in the Bible and in the cultural moment in which they were written. This is a unique sensibility that surely flows from his experience as a missionary in various continents. Second, it is a journey into the mind of a well-read person. One cannot but admire the depth and breadth of Fr. Escobar’s intellectual interests. His homilies constantly intersperse references to the world of literature and the history of thought. The choir of voices from poets like William Cowper, Homer, and John Milton; those of writers such as William Blake, Frederick Buechner, Charles Dickens, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Ernest Hemingway, Abraham Heschel, C.S. Lewis, Henri Nouwen, Mary Flannery O’Connor, Ovid, Karl Rahner, Leo Tolstoy, Mark Twain, Victor Hugo; and those of Christian champions such as Thérèse of Lisieux and John Henry Newman, among others, join Fr. Escobar’s own voice to invite his listeners to a life of Christian authenticity by searching for the truth and the good of which every human person is capable. Finally, it is a journey into our present reality with its complexity and demands. Fr. Escobar’s homilies are not mere intellectual abstractions or spiritual meditations that ignore the questions that people in his congregation are asking or hearing. The connection of his homilies to recent news and current events remind us that the Good News must become incarnate in our everyday lives. Such incarnation or inculturation is what truly leads to transformed lives in the confines of history. And in the present historical reality, for us today, it is imperative that as Christians we do all it is possible to address the needs of the poor and most vulnerable in our midst and around the world.

Whether you are a preacher or someone searching for a good resource to reflect on the readings for Year C in the Sunday cycle of the lectionary, Thorns and Thistles is definitely an excellent resource worth exploring.

Hosffman Ospino, PhD

Professor of Theology and

Religious Education, Boston College

March 23, 2013—Feast of St. Toribio

Alfonso de Mogrovejo

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

O ver the years the lens through which I have viewed my ministry has always been a learning experience. The roller coaster of attention and sacrifice has molded my perspective in the priesthood vis-a-vis the mixture of peoples of diverse cultures. The competing trends of secularization and missionary endeavors have challenged me more to further my understanding of God’s Word, mission, culture, and my prayer life. They have helped me grow more deeply in the sacramental priesthood as the alter Christus who acts in persona Christi Capitis.

Keenly aware of those people who have been part of my ministry as a missionary priest, I am pleased to thank for their continuous support, presence and care for the Church, along with the Scalabrinian Order.

With the growing numbers of migrants across the country, I cannot help but be mindful of a world that is marked by a yawning gap between rich and poor; a world which continues to witness afflictions in the midst of the ongoing migration of people searching for a better place to live and quality of life towards the future. On the strength of this idea, Pope John XXIII saw a basis for a right to emigrate in the legitimate desire of people to acquire the humanly necessary level of material goods.²

In the summer of 2010 I have been greatly assisted by Susan and Jim, along with Dominic, with their patience in helping me understand the dynamics of human concerns and priorities being at home in the world with others. I am thankful to my parishioners who have inspired and challenged me, too, to write my Sunday homilies. Heartfelt thanks are extended to my friends for being a source of information, strength and guidance.

My deep appreciation, however, goes to Professor Hosffman Ospino for taking the time to read the manuscript, for his advice, and kind words in seeing this book through to completion. My own community, Scalabrinian Missionaries, has been a great source of encouragement over the years, as well as of challenge. I am also grateful to Fr. Volmar Scaravelli, my pastor at St. Tarcisius Church in Framingham, MA, for his fraternal concern and comprehension especially for all the days and hours I have spent on the computer.

I am grateful to Mrs Nancy Marotta, a member of the Lay Scalabrinian Movement and former Assistant Principal of Public School 50 on Staten Island, New York, for her editorial assistance. She continues to be of great help in my writing and allows me to trust in prayer that all shall be well.

And the last but not least, to my deceased parents who have been my inspiration. I thank them for their steadfast love and humility which helped me mold that vision within me to live a kind of life—simple and focused in many settings. I thank God for the gift of parents like them.

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INTRODUCTION

T he impact of revolutionary information technology and globalization has brought diverse values in multicultural settings and shaped that perspective that has an engaging portrait for all people of faith today. Over the years people across cultures have lived their lives the way they want to live it. It follows that with many sources of information and interaction through the mass media, entertainment and other social networks, their faith commitment has changed; a popular culture that assumes the rightness of all that is relative or trendy, no matter how evil, has brought engagement of today’s context, and their conversation with practices of genuine witnessing has been headed in a different direction.

From the perspective of faith, our efforts to draw others to friendship with God start with experience. No lesson is more persuasive than good example—especially when it comes with a personal touch.³ While it is much easier to talk about the reality of our people in the poor countries than it is to answer why this reality happens, I am convinced that from many angles of the gospel, we can find certain connections that provide a pathway of hope, justice, and mission that responds to a vital need in the church and society.

I believe that the call we have been given is larger than we are. The starting point makes us aware of the world within us and around us through our human encounters in many forms, including our participation in the healing, loving and creative way this process can generate.

Carl Anderson’s A Civilization of Love: What Every Catholic Can Do to Transform the World comments on the vision of human existence of Blessed John Paul II.⁴ He quotes the Holy Father that we are created by Love and we are called to love. In a similar vein, Pope Benedict XVI, in his first encyclical letter, stressed our commitment to love others as a gift from God and this has to be shared in a deeper way, both at a personal and social level. Hence, we are challenged to love one another. Jesus, for instance, was executed because he refused to stop loving his people. He denounced cruelty and injustice that deprives others of their rights to love. He refused to stop challenging the world’s status quo. And he made it known to everyone that his mission in life was to keep on loving without limits. It’s a biblical imperative to love others, welcome a stranger and commit to helping those who are poor.

By the same token, there are many ways to shed light on the broader phenomenon of wonders and the mysteries present in the lives of people. They are part of a human web that ought to be seen and painted like any portrait of our innermost thoughts and feelings as reflected in our experiences.

These compiled homilies, while not intended for an ideal way of preaching for a community called to worship on Sundays, is an attempt to serve only as a form of sharing. Some stories within familiar historical and biblical contexts make us cognizant of the lessons of the past and other issues which explore specific events, along with the growing literature on human relationships.

It is of interest, however, to appreciate the value and importance of shaping the perspective on discipleship and interaction of old-world heritage and cultural conditions in the contemporary life.

As this book stands, with its biblical reflections, along with its considerable mosaic of allusions on literary works and other disciplines, it brings to mind that we are called upon to spread the word of God and to be good examples of what it means to be Christian. It also allows us to open the hearts of others to faith in Jesus Christ through our prayer and mutual exchange of experiences that people of faith may seek by word and example.

Nothing can be more convincing than sharing our life with others with a great deal of faith and trust in God. It has a core value of mission that has its founding vision from the flesh and blood of faith experience where transformation occurs. Given our understanding of how faith brings us closer to the Trinitarian presence of God, we are called to go through the process of conversion—experiencing the living God in different forms of poverty in diverse situations.

As we now live in a radically different world replete with all kinds of culturally established ideologies and moral stands, I would like to quote what Dante Alighieri once wrote: In the middle of the journey of my life, I came to myself within a dark wood where the straight way was lost. Ah, how hard it is to tell of that wood—savage and harsh and dense. The thought of it renews my fear; so bitter is it that death is hardly more.

NEW YEAR’S DAY

Readings: Num 6:22-27; Ps 67:2-3, 5, 6, 8; Gal 4:4-7; Lk 2:16-21

Solemnity of the Blessed Virgin Mary—

Mother of God5

It seems like yesterday when we looked back in retrospection and reflected upon the year just coming to a close. It was New Year, too, when we came to ask ourselves about the goals we wanted to achieve, resolutions to make and those lessons we learned, along with knowledge we gained. It was an enduring year though, with hills and valleys to climb.

As we leaf through another year, our horizon of meanings explores the possibilities of renewal and assessment of where we have been, and await the unfolding of what life will bring about. It is reflecting on the past and looking forward with optimism at the potential of what the future has in store for us.

Perhaps some of us still have parties to attend with families and friends. Some may have gone to Times Square in Manhattan, New York City, where they saw the dropping of the crystal ball that was raised and then lowered to mark the coming of the New Year.⁶ Traditionally, New Year is a time for families to get together sharing food and relationships. While we traverse our busy lives or find within ourselves some worries and anxieties, we are still grateful for each moment that we show our humanness and vulnerability to make changes for the better.

The past year has been swamped with some disheartening reports about economic recession and its consequences, debates on health care reform and its filibuster, climate change, terrorist attacks and many episodes of tragedy. I remember the report of a woman (Banita M. Jacks, 35) who killed her four daughters, ages 5 to 16 in southeast Washington on Jan. 9, 2008 and lived for months with their decomposing bodies.⁷ There was a train crash that occurred on the red line near Washington D.C. and Maryland border that killed 9 people and injured more than 70 in the deadliest accident in the 30-year history of the Metro.⁸ The Justice Department filed numerous lawsuits against several state juvenile detention systems for subjecting children to neglect and abuse.⁹ There was an uproar in Britain over the release of the only person convicted (Mr. Megrahi from Libya) in the 1988 Lockerbie bombing that killed 189 Americans in Scotland. Then we had the death of Sen Ted F Kennedy who is described as one of the greatest legislators of all time.¹⁰

Those were like hills and valleys of hurt and pain, sorrow and affliction. And as we take the time to reflect upon these things, we keep a positive outlook on another threshold of coming in and going out in the future. Although we have had a plethora of hardships in this past year we still keep our perspective intact with a good attitude towards life. In spite of so many distractions we met along the way, we have that faith that something good will take place. This is our hope, the pillar of faith that propels us in the future.

In biblical reference to the ancient Israelites when they waited to enter the Promised Land, God promised them: For the land which you are to enter and occupy is not like the land of Egypt from which you have come, where you would sow your seed and then water it by hand, as in a vegetable garden. No, the land into which you are crossing for conquest is a land of hills and valleys that drinks in rain from the heavens, a land which the Lord, your God, looks after; his eyes are upon it continually from the beginning of the year to the end (Dt 11:10-12).

Today, too, as we celebrate the motherhood of Mary, we recapture her missionary vocation as a gift of sharing in the life and mission of Jesus. Her contemplative attitude towards God—her trust and humility to accept God’s will is the best example of complete giving of oneself. It is a gift of unselfish love to fulfill a mission. We can look to Mary and reflect upon her deep faith as the foundation of her holiness. The fact that she is the Mother of God¹¹ is her primary gift and this makes her the most exalted human